Passenger cars in the form of, for example, vans or minivans have enjoyed great popularity in recent times. Such passenger cars, because of their structural design, have at least one sliding door which permits easier access to the inside of the vehicle. Vans should provide a comfort which is comparable to that known for passenger cars. Therefore, components should be incorporated into the sliding door, for example, electrically opening windows, lights, loudspeaker boxes or closing mechanisms of a central locking system.
A sliding door system for a vehicle, especially for a motor vehicle, preferably for a passenger vehicle, has become known from EP 1 010 558 A2. This sliding door system comprises a sliding door which can be displaced along a track and at least one power conduction device which is joined at one end to the sliding door and at the other end to a fixed part of the chassis. The power conduction device is formed by articulated members. The power conduction device has an upper strip and a lower strip which are joined together by a curved section. A power conduction device which is suitable for use in a sliding door system is known from WO-A1-00/12913. The power conduction device is formed by components, each of which has two brackets at a distance from one another, lying opposite and extending in the longitudinal direction of the power conduction device, and these are connected with one another by at least one traverse. Each bracket has a joint body and a joint seat which run essentially transversely to the longitudinal direction of the power conduction device. A joint body of a bracket engages in the joint seat of a neighboring bracket. The joint body has two outer mantle areas which lie diametrically opposite. Similarly, the joint seat has two diametrically opposed inner mantle regions. The outer mantle regions and the inner mantle regions provide mobility of the chain links around an axis which runs essentially transversely to the longitudinal direction of the power conduction device.